Into The Light Of A Dark Black Night

[poliphilo]

There's a bird that sings in the middle of the night. I wake around one o'clock and there he is, fluting away. I can only guess at his species, but since he can string quite a few notes together in a lot of different combinations I think he's a blackbird.  It's not normal for birds to sing in the middle of the night in February- or is it?

I don't mind that he wakes me up.  I like to hear him. Tweet tweet twiddle tweet. It's like he and I have a connection. The symbolism is obvious, but from his point of view I suppose what he's doing is telling other birds to keep away from his manor or hurling abuse at a cat.

I've just remembered there's a Beatles song- a very pretty one- Macca through and through: "Blackbird singing in the dead of night."  The website I've just visited says it's a song about civil rights. Yes, well, I suppose it is; but  I bet it all started with Paul lying awake at midnight- just as I've been doing-  listening to birdsong and thinking, " that's odd ."

Comments

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

There's an owl in the woods near my house, which often calls during the night. I think it's solitary and it sounds rather mournful to me, but it also impresses upon me how well the rest of nature can adapt to our urban environment. (OK, I live in a commuter village rather than a town centre, but it's a small patch of woodland essentially surrounded with suburbia).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We live very close to the town centre, but we get owls and foxes...

Just down the road- sandwiched between two housing estates- is an area that used to the municipal rubbish tip. They spent a lot of money reclaiming it and now it's very wild indeed.

[baritonejeff.livejournal.com]

The very first place Charles and I shared together was a condo, which clung high up on the side of a steep hill overlooking Los Angeles.

When Charles was out of town, I would leave the bedroom blinds open all night, gifting myself with a backdrop of countless twinkling city lights.

About three AM or so, a solitary bird would burst forth with torrents of cascading roulades.

I would wake up slightly, then ease back into sleep, lulled by that endlessly inventive song.

I miss that.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Birdsong at night is comforting, isn't it?

But I wonder why they do it?

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I think it *is* normal for some species. We have one or two here that do it--I suspect the mockingbirds and the robins--though not at this time of year. I'm betting it is not as cold in your part of the world as it is in most of the U.S. right now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's probably so. It's been quite mild recently. In fact- apart from one or two brief, cold snaps- it's been a very mild winter.

[venischazeik.livejournal.com]

I know that song! And yeah, it's about civil rights.

[sina-says.livejournal.com]

one of my fondest memories is of a friend of mine with an amazing voice singing that song over and over to me on a middle of the night car ride.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a very beautiful song